CONGRESS, UNITED STATES (ELECTORAL COMMISSION). 



179 



stood by the Chair that they probably may ob- 

 ject to all proofs on the part of the counsel 

 representing objections to Certificate No. 1. 

 They can therefore make their provisional of- 

 fers of proof in case there shall be a decision 

 that proofs are admissible. Then the commis- 

 sion will have before it a case, and so will the 

 bar. The case then would be, if that course 

 should be adopted and pursued, the certificates 

 with the accompanying papers, the objections, 

 and the offers of proof upon which the counsel 

 on the one side and the other would be heard. 

 Then the commission would in a great degree 

 have before it the whole case, and all the ques- 

 tions that arise under it. 



Mr. O'Conor : ",Mr. Tresident and gentle- 

 men of the commission : Advised of the posi- 

 tion which this controversy stood in, and the 

 stage of it at which we had arrived, by the 

 question somewhat suddenly propounded last 

 evening to us before the adjournment, I have 

 endeavored in the interim to adjust a statement 

 of what seemed to me to be desirable matter in 

 the nature of evidence to be laid before this 

 commission. 



" I did not prepare that exactly in the form 

 of an offer of evidence ; but, although that be 

 not its form, that is the substance of what I 

 have written, which presently I will read, there 

 not having been time even to make a fair copy 

 of it, much less to have it printed. 



"My object in framing what I propose to 

 read to the court was not to conform to 

 any particular view that I have heard exactly 

 from any quarter, but to place the commission 

 in possession of the general facts of the case in 

 this brief and condensed form, so that the 

 proper course of proceeding might go on, and 

 that proper course be adjudged of and deter- 

 mined in a fair view of the matter by the com- 

 mission. 



" I now proceed to read the paper on which 

 I have written our propositions: 



" ' 1. On December 6, 1876, being the reg- 

 ular law-day, both the Tilden and the Hayes 

 electors respectively met and cast their votes, 

 and transmitted the same to the sent of Gov- 

 ernment. Every form prescribed by the Con- 

 stitution, or by any law bearing on the subject, 

 was equally complied with by each of the rival 

 electoral colleges, unless there be a difference 

 between them in this : The certified lists pro- 

 vided for in section 136 of the Revised Statutes 

 were, as to the Tilden electors, certified by the 

 Attorney-General ; and were, as to the Hayes 

 electors, certified by Mr. Stearns, then Gov- 

 ernor. All this appears of record, and no ad- 

 ditional evidence is needed in respect to any 

 part of it.' 



" Perhaps I convey no new light by saying 

 that, but it is for the sake of presenting as dis- 

 tinct matter the view we take. 



" ' 2. A quo warranto was commenced against 

 the Hayes electors in the proper court of Flor- 

 ida on the said 6th day of December, 1876, 

 before they had cast their votes, which event- 



uated in a judgment against them on the 25th 

 of January, 1877. It also determined that the 

 Tilden electors were duly appointed. The va- 

 lidity and effect of tnis judgment is determina- 

 ble by the record ; and no evidence seems to 

 be desirable on either side, unless it be thought 

 (1) that the Tilden electors should give some 

 supplemental proof of the precise fact that the 

 writ of quo warranto was served before the 

 Hayes electors cast their votes, and (2) unless 

 it be desired on the other side to show the en- 

 try and pendency of an appeal from the judg- 

 ment in the quo warranto." 1 



" With these two possible and very slight 

 exceptions the whole case on this branch of it 

 depends upon the record. 



" ' 3. To show what is the common law 

 of Florida, and also the true construction of 

 the Florida statutes, the Tilden electors desire 

 to place before the commission the record 

 of a judgment in the Supreme Court of that 

 State on a mandamus prosecuted on the rela- 

 tion of Mr. Drew, the present Governor of that 

 State, by force of which Mr. Stearns was ousted 

 and Mr. Drew was admitted as Governor. This 

 judgment, together with the court's opinion, is 

 matter of record, and they require no other 

 proof ; nor is there any technical rule as to the 

 manner in which this commission may inform 

 itself concerning the laws of Florida.' 



" If I may be permitted to interject, it will 

 be seen that I am endeavoring to show how 

 very little there is in the shape of proof to de- 

 lay this commission in proceeding directly to 

 argument. 



" ' 4. The legislation of Florida subsequently 

 to December 6, 1876, authorizing a new canvass 

 of the electoral vote, flnd the fact of such new 

 canvass and the due formal transmission thereof 

 to the seat of Government, in perfect conform- 

 ity to the Constitution and laws except that 

 they were subsequent in point of time to De- 

 cember 6, 1876, are all matters of record, and 

 already regularly before the commission. 



" ' 5. The only matters which the Tilden 

 electors desire to lay before the commission 

 by evidence actually extrinsic will now be 

 stated. 



" ' I. The Board of State Canvassers, acting 

 on certain erroneous views when making their 

 canvass, by which the Hayes electors appeared 

 to be chosen, rejected wholly the returns from 

 the county of Manatee, and parts of returns 

 from each of the following counties : Hamilton, 

 Jackson, and Monroe.' 



" I trust I have omitted none, but I have 

 had no consultation. 



" * In so doing the said State board acted with- 

 out jurisdiction, as the Circuit and Supreme 

 Courts in Florida decided. It was by over- 

 ruling and setting aside as not warranted by 

 law these rejections, that the courts of Florida 

 reached their respective conclusions that Mr. 

 Drew was elected Governor, that the Hayes 

 electors were usurpers, and that the Tilden 

 electors were duly chosen. No evidence that 



